Christmas Tree
by SharanMcQuack
Summary: My annual ducktales christmas story. Beagles steal a gadget meant to transplant full grown trees intending to "transplant' Mr. McDuck's money. Mr. Mcduck, Giz and Launchpad are out to stop them.


Christmas Tree  
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.

My annual Christmas Ducktales story. My way of apologizing for getting grumpy during the Ordeal (known to goyim as Christmas). It starts in mid October and I got to hear the same tired old Christmas carols over and over and over again whither I want to or not and it's all so "festive"! (Buy this! Buy that! Buy the third thing! My aren't we "festive"!)

**1. Winter Wonderland **  
Written by: Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith  
Performed by: Eurythmics

**2. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) **  
Written by: Mel Tormé, Robert Wells  
Performed by: Nat "King" Cole

**3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas**  
Written by: Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin  
Performed by: The Pretenders

**4. Sleigh Ride **  
Written by: Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish  
Performed by: The Ronettes

**5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town **  
Written by: Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie  
Performed by: Frank Sinatra

**6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! **  
Written by: Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne  
Performed by: Michael Bublé

**7. White Christmas **  
Written by: Irving Berlin  
Performed by: Bing Crosby

Most Jews about better sports about the whole Ordeal than I am.

It was early December and the Christmas Tree in McDuck Square was being decorated. Mr. McDuck had planted it there decades ago. It is now taller than the one in Rockefeller Square- only it's alive!

Every year, it's decorated . Plenty of silver and gold tinsel is strew all over it. Plenty of silver and gold ornaments, lights and metallic strands are hung on it. Until the whole tree is green and silver and gold. Everybody comes to see it and oohs and aahs over it.

Once Christmas is over, the decorations were removed. During spring, summer,and fall people who work in the area often eat lunch in the handkerchief park it grows in. This has been going on for years and years.

Only this year, as Christmas neared, Mr. McDuck became aware of the fact the tree was dying. It was turning brown and drying out. It happens.

So, Mr. McDuck sent Launchpad out to search for a new tree.

"One of the many, many inventors on my payroll has come up with a method of transplanting a full grown tree from place A to place B with a lot less chance of killing the tree in the process." Mr. McDuck began.

" I've been meaning to try it, this gives me an excuse. Fly over the areas on the map I gave you. " Mr. McDuck continued. "I own all of them and they are all soon to be developed, built over. See if you can find a nice, big evergreen to transplant here. If it works, I'll try transplanting more of the trees in those areas."

"In the meantime, I'll arrange to improve the garden the tree was planted in. I'll make it bigger and put in fresh soil, just in case the soil was wearing out and that's what killed the tree." Mr. McDuck finished.

So Launchpad took his copter and flew over the areas, searching for the right kind of tree. It had to be a big, healthy and beautiful evergreen. And it had to grow in land Mr. McDuck owned.

After a good deal of searching, Launchpad found the perfect tree. Curious people came to watch as Launchpad used the gadget to gently dig up the tree, pick it up and then put the tree in a sling and carry it to the Square.

More curious people came to watch as the gadget replanted the tree. The Beagle Boys not only watched as the tree was dug up, they followed and watched as the tree was replanted.

So, tell me, Megabyte- do ya think we can use this gadget?" Big Time asked Megabyte Beagle.

"Yes, Big Time. We can easily adapt that device for robbing the Money Bin. Very easily, indeed." Megabyte replied, rubbing his paws in anticipation.

Launchpad had landed near our hanger and was about to unload the gadget from his plane when Mr. McDuck told him not to.

"Try it again tomorrow with more evergreens. It'll save me from having to buy Christmas trees. They should certainly stay pretty until after Christmas." Mr. McDuck ordered " With any luck, they'll live and I won't have to buy new Christmas trees year after year. And I'll try it with deciduous trees."

"De WHAT trees?" Launchpad asked.

"Deciduous trees. Trees that shed their leaves in Autumn. As opposed to evergreens." I said.

"Oh. You're a lot better with words than I am." Launchpad admitted, kissing me.

Naturally, I kissed Launchpad right back.

"And you're better with machines than I am." I replied.

We left the plane meaning to wash it. However, before we had the chance, the Beagles swiped the plane with the gadget.

Note to any criminals out there: do NOT steal any of Launchpad's planes. Launchpad will get furious at you, and trust me...he's a holy terror if you actually get him mad.

Knowing that, I went with him, hoping to calm him down. Launchpad does that to me when I lose my temper, it's the least I can do to calm Launchpad down on the rare occasion somebody actually gets Launchpad mad. Besides, I figured I'd get some good photos to sell to the Duckburg Daily News.

We followed the plane that had been stolen.

Bomber was flying the stolen plane. The other Beagles followed in a dump truck with a plastic tarp in it. They were intending to dump the money into the truck, hide the money under the tarp and leave the plane someplace. IF this scheme worked.

"Don't look now Launchpad, but they're heading right for the Money Bin." I said.

"I'd better contact Mr. McDee and Giz and give them the head's up." Launchpad replied.

Launchpad got on the plane's radio:

"Yo, Gizmoduck? This is Launchpad. Somebody- probably a Beagle- swiped one of my planes with a tree transplanting gizmo on it and is heading for the Money Bin. I somehow suspect they are going to try "transplanting" some money if you get my drift." Launchpad warned.

"Thanks, Launchpad! I recognized the plane as yours and assumed you were flying it! I might have been taken off my guard if you hadn't warned me!" Gizmoduck replied.

Launchpad then called Mr. McDuck and told him about the plane. Mr. McDuck practically teleported to the Money Bin.

The stolen plane circled the Money Bin. The transplanting gadget screwed into the Money Bin like a giant corkscrew. Like it did when digging up ground to replant a tree. Once a nice, big hole had been drilled into the Money Bin, the gadget grabbed bags of Mr. McDuck's money.

Launchpad aimed a fire-fighting hose at the gadget, and water under high pressure whooshed out.

But the gadget ignored the water and kept on working. Giz tried to grab the plane, but Bomber saw some of surprises Launchpad had equipped the plane with, since he's not allowed to arm his plane.

"Let's see what this one does." Bomber snickered, as he pressed one of the surprise buttons.

The surprise nearly fried Giz with an electric charge.

Launchpad switched to the firefighting foam used on electric fires to help Giz. Giz returned the favor by grabbing the stolen plane before it could deliberately crash into Launchpad's plane.

Meanwhile, Mr. McDuck had grabbed a pellet gun and started firing some round decorative rocks that circled the Money Bin at the stolen plane.

Bomber Beagle just ignored them and kept operating the tree transplanter. Bomber didn't care what happen to a stolen plane. Bomber was going to abandon it as soon as he got the money far, far away.

Bomber realized he was pressed for time- sooner or later, the "good guys" would think of something to stop him.

So, Bomber loaded the transplanter with as much gold as he could. Bomber ignored the bills because a lot of the paper money was in very small bills: ones, and fives. Bomber didn't want to bother with chump change.

This proved to be a mistake. The transplanter was made to transplant trees. Even a full grown tree weights considerably less than gold. The greedy Bomber grabbed so much gold, he overburdened the transplanter. It burst into flame and nearly set the stolen plane on fire.

The next thing you know, Launchpad was rescuing Bomber before he could be burned to death. That's my Launchpad all over the place.

I took over the controls of our plane while Launchpad went down a rope ladder and grabbed Bomber. I used the firefighting foam to put the fire out before any harm could be done.

Bomber was soon in jail but the other Beagles were no where in sight. They saw what was happening to Bomber and exited stage left. What the heck, it's Christmas.

But at least we found out the transplanter had a flaw: when overburdened it catches on fire. Now that we knew that, Mr. McDuck had it's inventor fix that. So at least the transplanter wouldn't be setting any trees on fire.

The inventor also made sure the transplanter couldn't be used to rob the Bin again. Mr. McDuck also improved the Bin and it's security measures so neither the transplanter nor anything similar could penetrate the Bin.

The End.


End file.
